Natalie DuPres
Countess Natalie du Prés was a widow from France, living in Martinique after the French Revolution. As such, she retained her title, and her head. Arrival in America Natalie du Prés came to America with her brother, André du Prés, for her niece Josette's wedding to Barnabas Collins. She arrived at Collinwood with her maid, Angelique (368/369), frightfully early after finding New York to be insufferable. In truth, her decision was influenced by Angelique, who wanted to be reunited with Barnabas. Relationship with the Collins family Haughty, arrogant, and pretentious, the Countess never went out of her way to make friends with the Collins family, but she commanded the respect of all around her and was a shrewd ally, and difficult enemy. She proved to be the perfect foil for Joshua Collins who reminded her France had rid itself of titles just like the United States, to which she replied "Precisely why I live in Martinique" (368/369). She sympathized with Naomi Collins, noting her weakness for sherry, showing she could be a good friend who never gossiped or schemed. Because of Naomi's incapacity and the threat to Josette, Natalie often sought to help Joshua solve family problems which he would not deal with directly because of his great pride. After Josette's suicide Natalie remained at Collinwood to try to help end the difficulties her family's arrival seemed to have set off. She seemed to approve distantly of Josette's choice of Barnabas and was shocked when Josette began an inexplicable dalliance with his same-aged uncle, Jeremiah Collins (375). At this point she more openly supported Barnabas, trying to convince him to marry Josette immediately (379) instead of waiting for the planned wedding date. Once Josette married Jeremiah she remained friendly with Barnabas, but tried to stop him from seeing her. She tried to stop the duel between Barnabas and Jeremiah (384). Whether Natalie was Catholic or a Huguenot, Abigail Collins was certainly suspicious of her. A study in contrasts, Natalie was educated, cultured, and a widow whereas Abigail was uneducated, and had lived in Collinsport her entire life as an old maid. One of the few things they had in common was both were very superstitious, although Natalie would admit it and Abigail would not. Natalie's love of reading Tarot cards did not help at all. Search for the witch Natalie initially scoffs at Abigail's claim that there is a witch at Collinwood, but when she accompanies Abigail on a search of Victoria Winters bedroom after Joshua was turned into a cat and located Victoria's charm bracelet, Natalie becomes convinced that Abigail was correct (382). On several occasions Natalie and Abigail go to the Collinsport Gaol and courthouse together. One area Natalie never agreed with Abigail on was Reverend Trask. Natalie and Trask hated each other from the first time they met to the last. Although Natalie was convinced of Victoria Winter's guilt until she realized it was Angelique all along (449), Natalie and Reverend Trask never saw eye to eye. Once Joshua convinced Natalie that Angelique was the witch, Joshua and Natalie performed a ceremony which brought Bathia Mapes to them (449). After the death of Josette Josette's death had a dramatic effect on Natalie. She seemed to lose a lot of her haughtiness and instead really began to try to help others. She also seemed to lose a lot of her spirit and became much easier to dominate and intimidate. Only a few times, usually involving a grave injustice such as Rev. Trask's persecution of Victoria Winters, did she seem to be her old self. Final fate History did not tell us of the final fate of Countess du Prés. No one knew what happened to her after the night Bathia Mapes arrived at Collinwood (450). But when Barnabas Collins travelled back in time to try to prevent Victoria Winters from being hanged (661-667), he also delayed the death of Lt. Nathan Forbes. This gave Nathan time to locate Natalie and ask her help (665). He brought her to the Eagle Hill Cemetery and they found the secret room on the Collins Family Mausoleum where Barnabas lay in his coffin (665). However, before Forbes and Natalie could destroy Barnabas, Ben Stokes arrived and killed Forbes, and frightened Natalie, probably causing her to have a heart attack. Stokes buried them both in unmarked graves (666). As dissimilar as Natalie and Abigail Collins were, it is interesting that they both died of fright from seeing Barnabas arise from his tomb. Notes Natalie du Prés was Grayson Hall's second role on the show.﻿ Appearances 368/369, 375, 376, 379, 380, 382, 385, 386, 393, 403, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 412, 417, 421, 422, 423, 425, 427, 430, 443, 449, 450, 665, 666, 885, 886 Category:Characters Category:1795 Characters